And… we’re back.

The 5th Season opener of Supernatural wastes not a moment diving right into the main story arc. The demons are still thugs, the angels are still thugs too, Sam and Dean are still caught in the middle and in the throes of their dysfunctional relationship, and all hell is — literally — breaking loose. It is as though we never left. This is now a series possessed, though; it feels as though the end of the story is in sight and each episode will count. (Sure, Kripke recently equivocated on the possibility of more seasons yet to come, but from the start he has stated that he envisioned and plotted the show with a five season arc. Anything that comes post Season 5 will exist because it was jerryrigged to appease the network. I’m not quite sure yet how that will work, and I don’t know whether Kripke does, either. I look forward to it, but I expect that in many ways the end of this season will be the end of the show proper).

This episode, “Sympathy for the Devil,” begins with a brief “The Road So Far” recap that does an admirable job of reminding the viewer not only of the events of last season but also of how kickass the show is, in general. The 66 seals have been broken, freeing Lucifer, who will bring the apocalypse. Ready? Go! But wait… just as Lucifer gets sprung, there’s some sort of odd deus ex machina (perhaps a literal one) – Sam and Dean find themselves abruptly removed from the tomb where Lucifer is being born and on an airplane. A column of bright white light stretches up into the sky, which they observe from their plane’s window as the pilot scrambles to avoid it and keep the plane aloft. Wait… a column of white light? A plane in distress? What show is this, again?

Apparently, the pilot is able safely to land the plane, because in the next scene Sam and Dean are motoring along in the Metallicar, trying to figure out what just happened. Flipping through the car’s radio stations reveals talk of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, nuclear posturing, swine flu, and the like. All signs of the apocalypse, surely. We are living in the end of days, the show is telling its viewers, even if we – like the innocents in the world of Supernatural – don’t necessarily recognize it. This is a brief but important point; it likely means that although the final season of the show will feature the apocalypse, we won’t necessarily be seeing rivers of fire and, as in previous seasons, the world at large will likely be oblivious of the insanity all around. Sam and Dean switch off the radio and Sam tries to broach the subject of his betrayal with Dean, but Dean is having none of it. He points out that they should keep their eyes on the figurative road, and locate Castiel.

As it turns out, locating Castiel is easier said than done. They visit the Prophet Chuck, who tells them that Castiel is dead, exploded in a shower of meat and molars. Chuck, disgusted, finds one of those molars in his hair. (“Dude… you’ve got some… Cass… on you.” Again, what show is this?) During their conversation, the angel Zachariah appears in the room with two of his henchmen. He tells Sam and Dean that they are all on the same team – they all want to stop Lucifer. He explains that Lucifer needs a vessel, and it is up to the boys to stop him from claiming one. Sam and Dean, though, want no part of the angels – Dean has pre-prepared a sigil, painted in his own blood on a pocket door, and he dispels Zachariah and his muscle by applying his bloody palm to the sigil just as Cass did at the end of last season. This was a bit confusing to me, honestly: when, exactly, did Dean paint the sigil? The scene began with the boys arriving and talking to Chuck and from there straight to Zachariah’s sudden appearance. And why, exactly, did Dean’s bloody hand leave no bloody handprint on the sigil when he touched it and then took his hand away? Quibbles.

Sam and Dean head over to the Regent Inn Hotel, where they arm themselves with hex bags Sam admits he learned how to make from Ruby. Sam insists he is feeling fine, not going through withdrawal at all, and he again tries to explain his actions to Dean. Dean is still having none of it. Dean, ever practical, suggests that as before they should just keep their eyes on the road, and hunt the Devil. Cue the Devil.

The season finale of Supernatural‘s fourth season, which wrapped up in May of 2009, closely paralleled the season finale of LOST in several surprising ways: Two sides – one light, one dark. It’s not quite easy to tell which side is which, though, as neither side appears to be particularly good, and each is using our fearless protagonists as pawns to further their own ends. Tension builds as questions of fate and free-will abound. Ultimately one of our characters is duped into setting into motion the very thing they’ve been trying to stop, and an incredible destructive force is unleashed. Maybe. Fade to white. Supernatural and LOST definitely wore the same dress to the season-finale prom last season. That turned out not to be a bad thing, though, considering how kick-ass the dress was in both cases. Now Supernatural has returned months before LOST will, with this episode entitled “Sympathy for the Devil.” And who, pray tell, plays the role of the Devil for Supernatural? Why it is none other than LOST’s Jacob himself, actor Mark Pellegrino! Very nice!

Pellegrino’s character, Nick, is first seen walking up to his home, apparently oblivious to the camera following closely behind him at an ominous and spooky angle. He settles in for the night, only to wake up covered in blood. He freaks out, but then the blood is gone. Then, suddenly, his wife Sarah is there. He’s understandably shaken.

Meanwhile, Chuck enlists the aid of superfan Becky, webmistress for www.morethanbrothers.net, a Carver Edlund fan website that, disappointingly, doesn’t actually exist. Gone, apparently, are the days of Supernatural where phone numbers mentioned on the show lead to the start of Alternate Reality Games when dialed. More disappointing than this, though, is the portrayal of Becky herself. She practically drools on herself with fan-desire. It’s funny for a moment, but ultimately uncomfortable in its excess. I had a visceral dislike for Becky, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Ultimately, I think it is because her portrayal demonstrates how the show sees its own fans. She’s a joke, but she’s a joke at the viewer’s expense. It’s funny, but in an uncomfortable “I recognize that it is me that you are laughing at” kind of way.

Chuck explains to Becky that she must visit Sam and Dean to deliver a message: The Michael Sword is on earth. The angels lost it. It is in a castle on a hill made of 42 dogs.

Shortly thereafter, Bobby arrives. He explains that Michael is the angel that kicked Lucifer out of heaven, and that his sword was an instrumental part of this. Sam admits to Bobby that it was he that broke the last seal, bringing on the apocalypse, by killing Lilith. Bobby deems this unforgivable. He coldly tells Sam to lose his number, should they survive the end of the world. Sam goes off to sulk, leaving Dean and Bobby alone. Bobby suggests to Dean that maybe Sam’s very existence was John Winchester’s biggest mistake. At the mention of his father, Dean conveniently remembers that his father has a storage facility – Castle Storage, on 42 Rover Hill. Chuck’s prophecy suddenly makes sense. Unfortunately, this bit of information is all that Bobby needs – he strikes Dean to the ground and reveals himself to be a Man Possessed. Why Bobby didn’t get the same Anti-Demon-Possession tattoo that Sam and Dean have is a mystery – I’m sure he regrets not doing so. DemonBobby is soon joined by Meg, inhabiting a new body, and several other Demon friends. They all fight, but Bobby is somehow able to break through to wrest temporary control from the demon inhabiting him, long enough to stab himself in the gut rather than Dean – the first time in Supernatural history I can recall a successful power struggle between possessor and possessed. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a pyrhic victory: his wound is grave and is likely to seriously hamper Bobby for episodes to come. Sam arrives and joins the fight, the demons are put down save for Meg, who barfs away to survive to fight another day.

Meanwhile, Nick continues to be courted by the discorporeal Lucifer. While he is seeing visions of bloody cribs, Sam and Dean are dropping Bobby off at the hospital. They head over to Castle Storage, where they find a few dead demons littering the floor and Zachariah and his minions awaiting their arrival. Zachariah explains that he planted the prophecy of the missing sword in Chuck, but that the angels really did lose the sword; they truly couldn’t find it. Zachariah then reveals that Dean is, himself, the Michael Sword. Dean is Michael’s vessel, assuming he consents to the job. Dean says he will do no such thing.

I’m not sure I follow this whole planted-prophecy thing: why exactly did Zachariah need to lead Dean to the storage facility to tell him Dean is the sword? At what point did Zachariah realize that Dean is the sword, or did he know all along? If he knew all along, why did he say the angels truly couldn’t find the sword? They’ve known where Dean is, and they’ve apparently known Dean is the sword. There’s something here I’m just not understanding.

In any event, Dean refuses to be the sword. Zachariah means business, though. He tries to compel Dean by shooting Sam in the knee with his finger. When that doesn’t work, he threatens to make it so that Bobby will never walk again. Dean doesn’t budge, so Zachariah gives Dean stage IV stomach cancer. Dean still stands strong, and so Zachariah takes away Sam’s lungs. Just in the nick of time, Castiel appears – molars apparently intact. Zachariah seems unsettled by the implication that there may be a Higher Power at work here, after all. It seemed that last season the working theory was that God was MIA, and in fact Castiel had a bit of a crisis of faith on that very topic. Now, though, Castiel appears to be fully restored and faithful, and more powerful for it. He stands Zachariah down and forces Zachariah to put Sam and Dean back together again. He then warns Sam and Dean about Lucifer and Lucifer’s quest to find a vessel. To help them, Castiel carves an Enochian sigil into their respective ribs. They are told that the sigil will keep them hidden from all angels. (Hopefully not hidden from Castiel himself, though – that would be problematic).

Meanwhile, back at Nick’s place, Nick dreams again of his wife, Sarah. Sarah appears to him as in a dream, a vision in white. She tells him, forthrightly, that she is Lucifer and that she needs his help. Lucifer tells Nick that his crime was loving God too much, and that for that God betrayed and punished him. Lucifer draws a parallel between his Fall and Nick’s lost family, pointing out that Nick has every right to be angry at a God that must be either sadistic or uncaring. Who but an uncaring, sadistic God would allow Nick’s wife and baby to die at the hands of an intruder? Lucifer enlists Nick’s help at seeking retribution. A bit shortsighted, perhaps, because Lucifer honestly tells Nick that he cannot reunite Nick with his family. If Nick’s only chance at seeing his family again is in heaven, then perhaps it is not best to side with the Devil against God. But whatever. Nick doesn’t think it through too long – he consents. Lucifer has his vessel.

The lines between good and bad are blurred on Supernatural, and it therefore comes as no surprise that an episode entitled “Sympathy for the Devil” establishes Lucifer as a complicated and — yes — sympathetic character. This is done on several levels. First, his vessel is himself sympathetic: Nick is a man wracked with sorrow and grief; still dealing with the recent violent death of his wife and infant son. He quickly accepts Lucifer’s argument that only a malicious or, at best, uncaring God could do such a thing to a man’s family. It is easy to feel bad for Nick even as he welcomes Lucifer into his body. And as for Lucifer himself, it’s easy to sympathize with him. Lucifer appears not as a malevolent winged fire-spewing monstrosity, Modest Mussorgsky music swelling in the background, but rather in the lovely and sad form of Nick’s recently deceased wife. Lucifer, through her, explains that his only crime was loving God too much, and as he does so we can’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the devil. No doubt Supernatural will explore the relationship between God and his favorite fallen angel throughout the episodes of this 5th season, and I for one can’t wait to see how it plays out.

Before we get to see that happen, though, we’ll no doubt have to see Sam and Dean’s fragile relationship repaired. The episode concludes with Sam, Dean, and Bobby agreeing that the only thing to do, in the face of armageddon, is to keep on keeping on. They will save people one by one, Season One style. Bobby tells Sam that he doesn’t really want Sam to lose his number; that it was the demon talking. Outside, in the parking lot, Dean admits his bravado to Sam. He tells Sam that he will fight for as long as he is able, but that he believes that they have as much chance of success as a tissue paper dog chasing an asbestos cat through Hell.

The episode closes with the fight that’s been bubbling to the surface all episode long: Dean calls Sam out for choosing a demon – Ruby – over family. Over his own brother. Dean tells Sam that Sam let him down and that he cannot forgive and forget. There is no more trust. They cannot be what they once were. This is perhaps a bit harsh and hypocritical, considering that Dean had just as much a hand in starting the breaking of the seals as Sam had in finishing it, and that Dean’s plan — to kill Lilith — was the same as Sam’s. Dean’s concern last season wasn’t that Lilith shouldn’t be killed; it was that Sam wouldn’t be strong enough to do the job.

All in all, this was a powerful and fun start to the season. Quibbles aside, I give it 4 out of 5 Metallicars.